Politics, an intoxicating elixir. Maddeningly delightful, maddening, I very much must emphasise—even more so when centred around our University of Ibadan Medical Students’ Association. The unique political landscape occupied by medical students has long been a topic of discussion but never had it come to the fore like when in the just-concluded University of Ibadan Students’ Union elections, a medical student threw his hat in for President, for the first time since the 2012 elections where two medical students, Babatunde Falade of the 500L class and Ekhator Raymond Edosa of the 400L class vied for the principal office of the Union, an election won by the Edo State native. Those were indeed different times, Babatunde Falade bringing in experience as the then-incumbent Sports Secretary of the Students’ Union, and Edosa having headed the UI’SU week committee for the 2011/2012 session, the third contestant for the UI’SU Presidency being Adejare Oluwadare, a 300L student from the Department of English. Interestingly, one Franklin, 2011/2012 Public Relations Officer of the Union, was also a medical student. It is interesting then to note the involvement of UIMSA with the Student Union at the time, in contrast with what is obtainable today. The current UIMSA pales in comparison, these days, we often fail to produce even two candidates for the UIMSA Presidency. Since the 2012/2013 session, medical students have been largely absent from the helm of affairs, and only Samson Tobiloba, albeit a dental student, the 2022/2023 President could bring much-needed representation to Ogba, that is, until Odedele Covenant’s election to the principal office just last month.
It has become imperative to write this piece, to in some way right the wrongs of an election cycle maligned by self-interest and a comical ignorance of this association’s history in University politics. We are a shadow of ourselves, and we have weak-willed leaders who do not understand the mantle placed on them. For a presidential candidate to vow to lead protests in our interest during a press night, and then when things got critical with the extended blackout in UCH, to kick rocks absentmindedly and -along with other student leaders- resort to a boycott of classes rather than take to the streets and raise awareness is a spit on our faces. For that president and his peers to incessantly quote the results of the 2018 #NoTo100k protests as a reason not to lead demonstrations is an insult to heroes past who masterminded that resistance. For that same president and his glass-chinned executives to preside over an ICOMAA event and urge students to attend this same event amid the ineffective but much-needed boycott is a kick in our gut. And most inexplicably, for Inioluwa Joshua John, 63rd President of the University of Ibadan Medical Students’ Association to ignorantly quote the 2012/2013 UI’SU elections in which two UIMSAites contested as reason for the association not to back her sole candidate in the 2024/2025 elections reflects a gross misunderstanding of the history and indeed the meaning of unionism.
This debacle is a sign of the times we are in, where students contest for office not to make a difference for the students they lead but rather, to make their LinkedIn profiles more attractive. And it is this degradation of unionism to self-interest that we must fight. In a country where Isaac Adaka Boro, President of the University of Nigeria’s Student Union in 1964/1965 will challenge the Federal Government in court in 1964, and lead, albeit unsuccessfully, an insurrection to establish the Niger Delta Republic in February of 1966 before facing death in 1968 while serving as a Major in the Third Marine Commando Division of the Nigerian Armed Forces, heading a 1000-man unit of riverine men known as the Sea School Boys during the Nigerian Civil War, the lack of political consciousness among student leaders today is alarming, to say the least. We seem to forget that not only are student leaders the voice of the students, but they are also the voice of the youth and the country at large, and their demonstrations against injustice during past military regimes are enshrined in the Nigerian consciousness. As the premier university, the University of Ibadan has always been at the forefront, championing justice, and our role in this as one of the first faculties: Arts, Science and Medicine, cannot be understated.
Therefore, the instalment of weak-bladdered leaders today is a disservice to our storied past. Rudolf Virchow, father of pathology, in 1847 observed that medicine and politics are both social sciences in the sense that they are involved in the socio-economic good and advancement of man and society. This was after the budding scientist released a report on a typhus epidemic in the region of Upper Silesia, then a part of the Kingdom of Prussia, concluding that the epidemic was caused by the mismanagement of the region by the Berlin government, recommending that democracy be allowed to thrive in Silesia for the betterment of the region. Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, Marxist Revolutionary, Guerrilla Commandante and Physician was radicalised as a young medical student travelling South America, coming face-to-face with the poverty, hunger and disease he saw as a result of the capitalist exploitation of Latin America by the United States. As medical practitioners, we are often witness to the soft underbelly of our society, to the destruction that dangerous policies foment, through for instance the scourge of drug addiction, poorly managed epidemics, or most apparently recently, the effect of a 100-day plus blackout in the foremost Nigerian Tertiary Healthcare Institution on patients. One needs not to delve into the resource limitations that generally plague our healthcare industry, where a child can supposedly be referred from Benin to faraway Ile-Ife on account of a foreign body airway obstruction, simply for lack of a paediatric Bronchoscope in Benin’s principal hospital, UBTH. This makes us most suitable to advocate for reform that directly benefits the people—one may argue that if Nigeria had more doctors in politics, the healthcare crisis on our hands could be more adequately managed. Yet, that all starts from here, the University of Ibadan. If as students, we cannot make our mark politically, what will become of us when we graduate? Shall we all in our self-interest only seek to emigrate from the country and practise elsewhere, contributing further to the collapse of this country’s healthcare? Or shall we fight to make meaningful change? It is for this reason that medical students often contest to be Health Ministers of their various Halls of Residence. Ekhator Edosa had served as Health Minister of Ransome Kuti Hall in the 2010/2011 session; Inioluwa John himself was the Health Minister of Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall in the 2020/2021 session some ten years later. And in the time since, many UIMSAites have served in that capacity in their various halls of residence. However, it seems that even this, our traditional political mainstay is eluding us today.
It is of utmost concern that Ajise Damilola, a member of the 2k26 class, would contest and fail in the Ransome Kuti Hall elections, seemingly failing to garner the support of his classmates due to perceived miscommunication. It is of even more concern that Ojo Precious of the same Imperium class would present himself at the Great Independence Hall press night in a manner so ill-equipped and unbecoming of a medical student that he would fail entirely at knowing how health outreaches are organised, having not a single clue on the UIMSA Community Health Awareness Programme (CHAP) and their function, seeking to organise medical outreaches by simply enlisting friends and colleagues without any thought towards equipment and reagents required for such an endeavour. For this candidate’s knowledge of office to be so shocking that he failed the press night screening entirely and was disqualified from the election, speaks to the quality of politicians our association now produces. And perhaps, were it not for the members of UIMSA Press on hand at that instance, he may have in truth hoodwinked those present with his shallow plans and gross misunderstanding of his role as a medical student in the University of Ibadan’s political clime.
But all this is bigger than a few isolated individuals, and we must through this medium appeal to UIMSAites as a whole to ride the train of political participation. Given the involvement of a UIMSAite in this year’s election cycle, it was intriguing to see many members of the association show up en masse for the rallies. Yet, our numbers at critical protests were thoroughly dismal, and were it not for the members of the main campus who came to join us, we could never have put up a meaningful resistance even in the face of the mightiest injustice. A fact that is even more alarming given our proximity to the situation, not just as students but as medical practitioners directly in touch with the patients affected most by this injustice. It is crucial that we not fall into the trap of supporting one of us simply because he is our own and positioned in a powerful seat, and instead, translate that political participation to all facets of student life. Despite a large turnout at the polls during the election of SU executives, voting from Alexander Brown Hall in the just-concluded Student Representative Council elections was dismal in contrast, reflecting a mounting disinterest in our government. The Legislature is ultimately the highest decision-making body, and our ignorance of that can be reflected even in the build-up to UIMSA’s endorsement of Odedele. The initial notice issued urging UIMSAites to vote for the 400L medical student at the polls was signed by the President, Senate Chair and Congress Chancellor, perhaps the three principal officers of the association, but crucially, no Congress or Senate meeting was held in the buildup to this, defeating the premise of democracy, as though only those three made decisions for an association almost a thousand strong. Further still, in the emergency senate meeting of February 18th, where much ado was made on the matter of endorsement, we showed an inability to deal with so-called extra-constitutional situations, with obsolete statutes quoted, and a general dithering about that will make that situation drag on into election week. Of interest in that firestorm also is the role of the rest of the ‘Magic Makers’ in what played out. How much power does the President wield over the rest of the Executive Board constitutionally, and were they perhaps too deferent in a situation where they ought not to be? Their silence since has only complicated matters, and it is likely we may never know the full extent of what transpired at the time. In a February 22nd outburst on the 2k24 WhatsApp group, the UIMSA treasurer, Salami Adedolapo took on the role of spokesperson, attributing the debacle to ‘conflicts of interest’ on the part of the President, which led him to choose ‘neutrality’ at the time. This, in addition to reports that Mr Odedele was under recommendation for suspension by the UIMSA Congress according to her, ensured that a decision could not be taken, with efforts instead directed towards keeping the supposed pending suspension under wraps and encouraging people to vote behind the scenes. While she even offered explanations, the Association’s Vice President, Abu-Idris Meliat, was mostly mute, with the Public Relations Officer, Mubarak Alimi, offering esoteric responses when questioned about the silence of the Executive Council. The matter of the suspension remains unclear with no official confirmation from UIMSA’s highest decision-making body and speculated reasons for this decision ranging from inactivity on the Congress Floor to his sending a political flier to the Congress group, against Congress stipulations. Ultimately, too much remains unclear with this being as close to a clarification of affairs as we’ve got from the UIMSA Executive Council.
But certainly, we must discuss this matter of endorsement and the need for it at all. After all, by no means is it a necessity for a student organisation like ours to form a singular voting bloc. Leaders should be selected based on their credentials, rather than their affiliations, lest we risk succumbing to the emilokanism that has plagued our forebears. Even in the 2012 elections, Omotosho Adekunle, a then-300L student of the College of Medicine discussed his support for Adejare Oluwadare from the Faculty of Arts, contestant for the post of President, at the time with the press, asserting that the then VC, Professor Isaac Adewole, would have more of a grip on Babatunde Falade and Ekhator Edosa, both from the Department of Medicine and Surgery, given their proximity; leaving the unsaid unsaid, but we know how things are done here, and what was implied. And this is an admirable stance, as aluta should always be at the core of unionism, any factor which could detract from that, even an excessively friendly relationship with the authorities, being open to scrutiny. Indeed, in this case, the politician’s manifesto and credentials could have spoken for him, but for better or worse, those involved in his campaign were seeking greater assurances, and what spawned from that was a shitstorm to mother all shitstorms. Few fields are as hierarchical as medicine in truth, it is reflected from the work environment to the medical schools spotting the country— so then, for a member of the 400L class to describe the Association’s President from the 600L class as a goat in public was deplorable. It’s a disregard for the decorum we hold dear. In addition, for observers from the 400L class to, in truth, steer an emergency senate meeting to a shouting match, with talk of disgusting blindfolds, reducing the Senate to a beer parlour, the Chief Whip interjecting at various points to keep the meeting on track, spoke poorly of our respect for sacred institutions. Yes, political participation is important, it is crucial that observers have their say. Yet, it is also unfortunate that a turnout of that sort would only happen in those circumstances, as an act of self-interest, with the dissidents only worried about ensuring one of their own would get into power.
However, all this is a wake-up call. It reminds us that the plague of political apathy in the University of Ibadan Medical Students’ Association must be arrested. It beckons us to vote wisely at all levels, not only in the more visible positions on the executive council, but also in the Senate and Congress, as those are our voices in truth, agencies of policy-making, and the driving force towards the advancement of all our agendas. It is a call for us to truly consider the meaning of unionism and our role in Nigeria. The sight of medical students sweating on the UCH ramp and screaming their hearts out while hospital staff videoed and pointed from the balconies will not be unfamiliar to many who attended the UCH Blackout protests. Ultimately, the youth are change agents and we must do well to ensure we create a future where we too do not become anencephalic, moronic logs of wood, devoid of hope, leaving the burdens of our failures to mere children.
The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall. — Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara
Obluda
This article is the first in a three-part series highlighting the pitfalls in the University of Ibadan’s Student Political Scene.
Editor’s Note: Readers should note that the opinions of this writer, while of proper journalistic standard, are not equal to the position of the UIMSA Press.